The beginning...

[Jannard]

We took our time... (1 year and 9 months) to release our 1st camera. While we had Alpha prototypes shooting in April, "Crossing the Line", and Beta prototypes shooting this summer, nothing could really prepare us for production and real customers.

Our "shakedown" period, April to August, taught us a lot. Most of the RED team was on active "bug patrol" and did months of testing prior to delivery. We learned a ton on the "Wanted" set and in Spain shooting "Guerrilla". But we didn't get everything.

Since shipping the 1st 25 cameras, we have found that our cable supplier was "irregular". We have had good cables and we have had failures. Particularly with the LCD/EVF cables. We found out that our production battery chargers would trip off when the camera was powered AC through the charger. A fix is happening now. And as we enable features, we are finding that we create new bugs, even though we thought we had a bulletproof software foundation. But we continue to improve everyday.

Our 1st customers are proving not only to be early adopters but "test customers". It isn't what we wanted or what they signed up for. But I think our service is making up for any inconvenience they might be having.

The best news about all this is that our image quality is as good or better than anyone imagined. And that is the foundation for success of our program and the satisfaction of our customers.

We continue to improve the program daily. And we are keeping our early customers current with any upgrades and fixes.

We are happy to report the many new features will be added in September. And fully believe that all features will be done in October. I am sure we will have issues along the way. This is still a very difficult trick we are pulling off. But we will be good to our customers. I am one of them. And we won't stop until I am a satisfied customer.

Jim

[Desert Rune]

Amazing...

(first post) :)

[Larry McKee]

21 months to create an industry changing product is mind boggling when you think about it for any industry. Congratulations RED Team.

[Tonaci Tran]

Seriously Jim. I have been anticipating Red's launch so badly as everyone else on this board.

Back during the 4k screening at the nuart theatre I came two hours early from San Diego just to make sure I didn't miss out on anything. For NAB this year, Blair and I were the first non vendor-people to be at the first Crossling the Line screening.

I had some tiny fear that my expectations would have been so high I would have set myself up for dissappointment. After the shooting with RED, I am so relieved that the experience has exceeded my expectations. I know I'll sound cheesy, but I always dreamed of a camera like this but never thought it could happen. Nor would I have ever thought I could be within reach of affording it. Damn I love this camera!

[David Battistella]

Jim,

It's hard not to get behind this type of passion and transparency. It's impressive.

Thanks for the update.

David

[Brook Willard]

The good news is that a day on set with the camera is still a day that can finish on schedule. I've hit a small handful of glitches and bugs, but nothing that we couldn't fix on our own. Any time I've had a question or needed help on set, the guys are only an email or phone call away.

I think it's fun. It's that window into the development process opening up into a door. I'm simultaneously satisfying my inner nerd and outer cinematographer.

[Shawn Nelson]

Thanks! Its good to know about the LCD cable issue. Just a few minutes ago shooting a sunset the LCD wouldn't come on, so we turned everything off, unplugged and replugged the LCD cable and turned everything back on and it came on, flickered, then went stable and was okay.

[Zack Birlew]

Hey, as long as the cameras are actually working, bugs are a non-issue. Just like a new version of Windows, the bugs are being guaranteed to get stomped out in time. It's amazing how fast you guys got these cameras made and I can't wait to see how the market reacts once RED 4K projects start popping up all over the place!:gun:

[Rick Darge]

Yea Jim. Many thanks. Looking forward to the constant evolution of this thing -

[Jason Francois]

Thanks Jim. Great post and great times.

Hell, the first time I shot with an HVX and P2 store, the P2 store went nutty and I walked away with almost half of my footage missing. I can almost bet that the RED is doing better than this right out of the box. :)

thanks again for starting this journey that we have all become a part of.

J.

[Matthew Verkler]

All the early reservation holders knew what they were getting into. And I'm sure none of them have any regrets. I'm #508, and I wish I was currently a "test customer", with all of the irregularities that come with that.

Any relationship between a business and its customer is really a partnership. Most often it's a very loose partnership, especially when the customers number in the millions or billions. But in the case of Red, all of us who were here before NAB this year understand that Red was trying to accomplish the impossible on our behalf, and that we have been treated as true partners by Red as they have actively solicited our input and feedback. We early adopters have consciously taken on a certain amount of risk, both in terms of money and of being "test customers".

Red was an idea more than anything at first, an idea backed by fanatics on the manufacturer and the customer side. Now Red is a reality; (some lucky) customers have the Red One in their sweaty palms. If Red The Company didn't have such a strong partnership with their customers, nobody would've seen the camera for a long time. Some early developmental quirks are a minor inconvenience compared to the benefits of getting Red now.

Red The Company (RTC?)has been so transparent with us customers, sharing with us the ups and downs of getting such a ground-breaking product to market. Such tranparency is a sign of strength, conviction, and most importantly, integrity.

In my opinion, RTC, Jim and the whole crew, have made the correct decisions to be extremely aggressive about getting Red One in customers hands. We signed up for this ride and are happy to be a part of it!

Verko

P.S. I didn't mean to denigrate people who signed up at NAB 2007 or later. I just meant that before that, Red was much less real and that it was more of an act of faith to make a reservation.

[Poi Boy]

I want mine so bad I can taste it ! won't be long now.
-A
Aloha

[Seung Han]

Just the fact that you are being this open in a real time manner is very exciting for me as a future RED owner. Appreciate this type of transparency in your process as well as your team's hard work and efforts. Thanks!

[Storyline]

The company's openness about these issues side by side with their resolve to fix the problems is what makes for loyalty with customers. If Red were an incremental product, there might not be such a show of loyalty. That Red is a game changer - well, no wonder the patience and excitement is there.

Meanwhile, I'll be renting some HDX900 cameras (nice, but in a different league) until my December (roughly) Red ship date arrives.

--Dan

[C.H.Haskell]

"But we will be good to our customers. I am one of them. And we won't stop until I am a satisfied customer."

Jim

I feel quite confident in the RED family...and thanks again to all the "test-consumers" who are helping pave the way.

Cheers!

[Daniel Reichenbach]

At IBC again, I am wondering how much professionals still wish, that RED would never happend. Is it fear, is it envy? There is no other way for me to explane, why they don't at least be open minded, nothing more. Be a part of REDcore means also, to take a little bit of risk for all this advantage we will have with RED. And risk we need every day in this business to get better and better.

[Johnny Friday]

Thanks Red Team! Great Stuff. Love The Open Forum Here. This Is Truly Ground Breaking Style Of Business! And Keep It Coming.

[Roberto B]

we had Alpha prototypes shooting in April, "Crossing the Line"march..

[Martin Ludwig]

We took our time...
Our 1st customers are proving not only to be early adopters but "test customers". It isn't what we wanted or what they signed up for. But I think our service is making up for any inconvenience they might be having....

. But we will be good to our customers. I am one of them. And we won't stop until I am a satisfied customer.

Jim

Jim, this is the difference between Panasonic, Sony and Red - with your Red team we know that things can change, you are announcing all problems you find. Pana and Sony didn´t - and even there new customers are beta testers, but they don´t know it. And if they report their problems they will get no information.
I am sure - a lot of people in this industry have absolute no problem to be beta tester - if they know it. so we can feel to be part of the team - and this could be fun !

[tj williams]

WindowsXp started to work well under service pak 3!!!!
they still did ok.
by the time you get to my camera it should be purrrr fect.
#1150

[Ramesh Jai]

[QUOTE]...Just like a new version of Windows...

No..please don't say that.

[Ramesh Jai]

WindowsXp started to work well under service pak 3!!!!
they still did ok.
by the time you get to my camera it should be purrrr fect.
#1150
Amen! I hope to get mine in March '08 all neat and tidied up. Oh what a beautiful morning..

[Alexander Nikishin]

I've bumped into a few bugs here and there but nothing that a re-boot couldn't fix.

The images are gorgeous, the balance of the RED setup is amazing, I truly take pride in being able to shoot RED, it hasn't just lived up to my expectations, it's surpassed them!

[David Cubbage]

Words fail to describe how I feel to be a part of this community. Jim, you are an inspiration to us all; your openess and honesty to discuss issues as they arise with us is a revelation in this dog eat dog world of ours. Your passion for perfection is outstanding.

We owe you and your team a great deal!

David

[Terry Delahunt]

A new way to do business! Well done Jim! Thanks for taking this on! I agree with David, being part of this community has been a great experience!

[Antoine Baumann]

Jim thanks again for your sincerity, that's really something big!

Early adopters are a bit of beta tester, etc... but we have a deal on the price of accessories, so...

But I do not aggree on "bugs are a non-issue", and hope that when our camera will ship, most of them will be resolved, as well as most option enable and REDCINE ready.

BTW, if you could stop with OS comment. It is not because you are not able to make windows run for professionnal work that nobody can.

antoine.

[Hrvoje Simic]

Thanks for being so open. Best of luck, Jim.

[Curran Giddens]

Sounds like the bugs are very minor and everything is still on schedule. Looking forward to November!

[Jeff Coatney]

A very good friend of mine who is an A-List writer and director just finished his 2K DI sessions by viewing the results on film at one of the pre-eminent labs. He then saw the 2K CTL clip and other RED clips just recently posted and stated the he could not wait to "dance on film's grave". There's a lot of people ready to take the RED leap. I'm so pleased to hear of the first 25 camera delivery. Go RED Team!

[vsv]

Every re(d)volution have start but never has happy end...
...for greedy monsters :)

[Chris Gearhart]

Thanks, Jim and Co. This whole project has the romance of a garage band, the excellence of a fortune 100 company, the committment of a family, and the beauty of a sunset.

Thanks for what you are doing, Jim, and how you are doing it. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Michael Schrengohst]

Thanks, Jim and Co. This whole project has the romance of a garage band, the excellence of a fortune 100 company, the committment of a family, and the beauty of a sunset.

Thanks for what you are doing, Jim, and how you are doing it. I wouldn't change a thing.

More like a sunrise????

[Steve Gibby]

I'm a happy "beta tester" for sure! The 4k images we've generated so far, in 3D and 2D are simply stunning, and overall the camera has performed like a champ.

As with any new tech product, there will be bugs. We've run into a few small bugs in the past two weeks of test shooting with #8, and #13. Nothing major, just small bugs - and I reported them directly to RED Team. Those reports were gratefully received by RED Team - they want to hear about them so they can tweak the camera firmware and hardware as necessary. As a camera owner I'd much rather report any concerns or glitches directly to RED Team than to drag them out into an open forum. My mission as an owner is to have my equipment work as well as possible, as soon as possible - not to embarrass the maker with public complaints.

IMO RED does business exactly how business should be done: straightforward, communicative, concerned for their customers, and with excellent products for very reasonable prices.

I've supported RED from their very beginning...and I couldn't be happier with the experience of it. These guys care about us and their product - in a personal, one-to-one fashion.

Thanks RED...

[Ben Feuer]

Just like a new version of Windows, the bugs are being guaranteed to get stomped out in time.

Maybe not the optimal choice of analogy on a largely FCP forum. :)

[Dave Weber]

Jim,

I've been with you since the old Oakley bike grip days :red_bandana: , through my 20some pairs of Oakley Glasses :matrix: and now the RedOne camera :gun: . I knew from your past products that this Camera was going to be the ONE! Thanks for everything!

[MikeCurtis]

On that cable front, I noticed that if I wrapped the LCD cable around one of the side clamp pieces (the 3 flat sided mount that screws onto the rails, forget name at the moment, is the "frame" part to build on the side of a built out Red), to snug the cable in and not have it so floppy loose, it was tensioning at an angle where it plugged into the camera body.

The LCD didn't power up sometimes like that. If I plugged it in normally, NOT looped around the c-shaped mount, it ALWAYS worked.

BTW - I'm sitting at home, watching 2K ProRes proxies play out on my 60" 1080p HDTV set (via Octo Mac Pro, now safely home). Uncorrected, straight off the camera stuff. WOW it looks good, I can't wait to get into this stuff and start messing with it.

-mike

[Billy Summers]

I'm a happy "beta tester" for sure! The 4k images we've generated so far, in 3D and 2D are simply stunning, and overall the camera has performed like a champ.

As with any new tech product, there will be bugs. We've run into a few small bugs in the past two weeks of test shooting with #8, and #13. Nothing major, just small bugs - and I reported them directly to RED Team. Those reports were gratefully received by RED Team - they want to hear about them so they can tweak the camera firmware and hardware as necessary. As a camera owner I'd much rather report any concerns or glitches directly to RED Team than to drag them out into an open forum. My mission as an owner is to have my equipment work as well as possible, as soon as possible - not to embarrass the maker with public complaints.

IMO RED does business exactly how business should be done: straightforward, communicative, concerned for their customers, and with excellent products for very reasonable prices.

I've supported RED from their very beginning...and I couldn't be happier with the experience of it. These guys care about us and their product - in a personal, one-to-one fashion.

Thanks RED...

I'm with you on this one Gibby...
It's weird but, I have a strange feeling that I am part of the RED team and that our interests our aligned(?!) I know they put themselves in our shoes but, it's funny when you feel compelled as a customer to put yourself in the vendor's shoes?!!
It's a wild (RED) world...

[David Battistella]

I know they put themselves in our shoes but, it's funny when you feel compelled as a customer to put yourself in the vendor's shoes?!!
It's a wild (RED) world...

That's how I feel and I have not even seen the camera in person.....yet!

David

[Alex D. da Silva]

I'm a happy "beta tester" for sure! The 4k images we've generated so far, in 3D and 2D are simply stunning, and overall the camera has performed like a champ.

As with any new tech product, there will be bugs. We've run into a few small bugs in the past two weeks of test shooting with #8, and #13. Nothing major, just small bugs - and I reported them directly to RED Team. Those reports were gratefully received by RED Team - they want to hear about them so they can tweak the camera firmware and hardware as necessary. As a camera owner I'd much rather report any concerns or glitches directly to RED Team than to drag them out into an open forum. My mission as an owner is to have my equipment work as well as possible, as soon as possible - not to embarrass the maker with public complaints.

IMO RED does business exactly how business should be done: straightforward, communicative, concerned for their customers, and with excellent products for very reasonable prices.

I've supported RED from their very beginning...and I couldn't be happier with the experience of it. These guys care about us and their product - in a personal, one-to-one fashion.

Thanks RED...

I've been in this business now for 17 years, there's never been a new product (RED is much more than that) released without bugs and fixes.
RED is a remarkable camera, a whole new beginning for this industry.
Jim, your approach so far has been honest, direct, respectful and refreshing.

[Damien Molineaux]

On that cable front, I noticed that if I wrapped the LCD cable around one of the side clamp pieces (the 3 flat sided mount that screws onto the rails, forget name at the moment, is the "frame" part to build on the side of a built out Red), to snug the cable in and not have it so floppy loose, it was tensioning at an angle where it plugged into the camera body.

The LCD didn't power up sometimes like that. If I plugged it in normally, NOT looped around the c-shaped mount, it ALWAYS worked.

BTW - I'm sitting at home, watching 2K ProRes proxies play out on my 60" 1080p HDTV set (via Octo Mac Pro, now safely home). Uncorrected, straight off the camera stuff. WOW it looks good, I can't wait to get into this stuff and start messing with it.

-mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for all the great input !

"2K ProRes proxies" and "Uncorrected, straight off the camera stuff"

How do you make a 2k ProRes proxy ?

Cheers,
Damien

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Jim and RED team, thanks for the honesty to your customers.
Please keep this attitude, even if, in a couple of years, you guys have become a BIG BIG company (okay, you'll never be Sony, because they have a complete range of consumer products, but with your complete CINEMA tools - lenses, monitors, smaller camera's, projectors, workflow... - I think you guys will become far more great then you are now).
Like others said, it is VERY refreshing, and it builds a LOT of confidence, that you perfectly know what to expect from the company you work with or sell gear from.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Of course the difference between RED and Panasonic is that if Panasonic ever made an announcement like this they would be sued back into the stone age by some schmoe in Springville.

[Jim Perry, Jr.]

Jim and everyone at RED Digital Cinema,
thank you so much for following through with all of this.

"Any relationship between a business and its customer is really a partnership."
-Verko: post #11

In the short time that i have followed Red, the above statement
feels so true, even for a future customer like me.

Jim, if you ever go public-
I would buy all the stock in Red as i can -
i believe in what Red is doing that much.

[whachusay]

This whole project has the romance of a garage band,

That my friend is worth quoting!